Ridge v. Verity

715 F. Supp. 1308, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6990, 1989 WL 69583
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 8, 1989
DocketCiv. A. 88-351
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 715 F. Supp. 1308 (Ridge v. Verity) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ridge v. Verity, 715 F. Supp. 1308, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6990, 1989 WL 69583 (W.D. Pa. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

STANDISH, District Judge.

I

This is a civil action in which plaintiffs, the states of Alabama, Kansas and Pennsylvania, various members of the House of Representatives, the Coalition for Constitutional Reapportionment (OCR), and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), have filed a complaint challenging the inclusion of illegal aliens 1 in the 1990 census population figures for purposes of congressional apportionment. Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that an apportionment of members of the House of Representatives, among the states, based upon population figures which include illegal aliens, is unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful. Plaintiffs further request injunctive relief enjoining defendants from intentionally including illegal aliens as part of the enumeration upon which such apportionment is made and directing defendants to develop a method of excluding illegal aliens from the census figures used for such apportionment. Defendants, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Director of the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States of America, challenge the standing of plaintiffs to maintain this action, and have moved for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. For the reasons set forth below, the motion will be granted.

II

In a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Drexel v. Union Prescription Centers, Inc., 582 F.2d 781, 784 (3d Cir.1978); Fed.R.Civ.P. *1311 56(c). In the present case, the court concludes that it lacks jurisdiction because the plaintiffs do not possess the requisite standing and, therefore, summary judgment will be entered in favor of defendants and against plaintiffs.

Ill

Plaintiffs are 42 members of the House of Representatives, suing in their individual capacities as residents and voters of their states, the states of Pennsylvania, Kansas and Alabama, and two organizations, FAIR and OCR, suing as representatives on behalf of their members who are residents of the 50 states. Defendants are the federal government agencies and officials responsible for conducting the census and apportioning members of the House of Representatives.

Plaintiffs contend that it is unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful to apportion members of the House of Representatives based upon population figures which include illegal aliens. Plaintiffs claim that the inclusion of illegal aliens in census figures for apportionment purposes violates Article I, § 2 and Article II, § 1 of the Constitution. Further, plaintiffs argue that the inclusion of illegal aliens for apportionment purposes will result in states that have large numbers of illegal aliens gaining additional seats, while states with smaller numbers of illegal aliens will not, and therefore, the votes of persons in states with smaller numbers of illegal aliens will be diluted. Plaintiffs do not seek to enjoin the inclusion of illegal aliens in the census figures in general but only to enjoin the inclusion of illegal aliens for purposes of apportionment of members of the House of Representatives. Plaintiffs request this court to direct defendants to develop an appropriate method for excluding illegal aliens from the census figures used to apportion members of the House of Representatives.

Defendants contend that they are constitutionally mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, as amended by the Fourteenth Amendment, to count all persons in the 1990 census, including illegal aliens, for purposes of apportionment of the membership of the House of Representatives. Defendants further emphasize that in accordance with Article I, Section 2, of the Constitution, as amended by the Fourteenth Amendment, the federal government and its officers and agencies have, in each decennial census conducted for the past two hundred years, counted all persons residing in the United States, except those persons expressly excluded by the Constitution.

IV

Standing

The threshold question which the court must address is whether it has jurisdiction to decide the merits of this case. Article III of the Constitution limits the jurisdiction of federal courts to the “resolution of ‘cases’ and ‘controversies’ ”. Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 750, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 3324, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984); Valley Forge College v. Americans United, 454 U.S. 464, 471, 102 S.Ct. 752, 757, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982). An aspect of the limitation of Article III is the doctrine of standing. Page v. Schweiker, 786 F.2d 150 (3d Cir.1986). Thus, in order to invoke the jurisdiction of this court, plaintiffs must first demonstrate that they have standing to challenge the conduct of defendants. “[T]he standing question is whether [a] plaintiff has ‘alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy’ as to warrant his invocation of federal-court jurisdiction and to justify exercise of the court’s remedial powers on his behalf”. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498-99, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2204-05, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975), citing, Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 695, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962) (emphasis in original) (footnote omitted).

In order for plaintiffs to establish the requisite standing, they must demonstrate “at an irreducible minimum”, (1) that they personally have suffered some actual or threatened injury (injury-in-fact); (2) that the injury can be traced to the challenged conduct of defendant (causation) and (3) that the injury is likely to be re *1312 dressed by a favorable judicial decision (re-dressability). Valley Forge, supra, 454 U.S. at 472, 102 S.Ct. at 758; Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U.S. 26, 38, 96 S.Ct. 1917, 1924, 48 L.Ed.2d 450 (1976); Doherty v. Rutgers School of Law, 651 F.2d 893, 899 (3d Cir.1981).

There are three classes of plaintiffs whose standing is challenged by defendants: (1) the individual plaintiffs, various members of the House of Representatives; (2) the state plaintiffs, Alabama, Kansas and Pennsylvania and (3) the organizational plaintiffs, CCR and FAIR. The court will analyze the standing of each group of plaintiffs with regard to the criteria above.

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Bluebook (online)
715 F. Supp. 1308, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6990, 1989 WL 69583, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ridge-v-verity-pawd-1989.